HD 217107 c is an extrasolar planet approximately 64

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s away from Earth in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

Pisces Pisces may refer to: * Pisces, an obsolete (because of land vertebrates) taxonomic superclass including all fish * Pisces (astrology), an astrological sign * Pisces (constellation), a constellation **Pisces Overdensity, an overdensity of stars in ...

(the

Fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

). The planet was the second planet to be discovered orbiting the star

HD 217107 HD 217107 (6 G. Piscium) is a yellow subgiant star approximately 65 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Pisces (the Fish). Its mass is very similar to the Sun's, although it is considerably older. Two planets have been ...

. HD 217107 c's existence was hypothesized in 1998 due to the eccentricity of the inner planet's orbit and confirmed in 2005 when radial velocity studies of the star indicated another, more distant and massive companion orbiting the star. The planet has an eccentric orbit lasting on order of a decade.

Detection and discovery

A study of the

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity, also known as radial speed or range rate, of a target with respect to an observer is the temporal rate of change, rate of change of the distance or Slant range, range between the two points. It is e ...

of HD 217107 carried out in 1998 revealed that its motion along the line of sight varied over a 7.1 day cycle, indicating the presence of a planet in orbit around the star. The planet was designated

HD 217107 b HD 217107 b is an extrasolar planet approximately 65 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Pisces (the Fish). The planet was discovered orbiting the star HD 217107 approximately every seven days, classifying the planet as a hot Ju ...

, and was found to be somewhat heavier than

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

, and orbiting extremely close to the parent star in an orbit with quite a large eccentricity. Most planets with orbital periods of less than 10 days have almost circular orbits, and its discoverers proposed that the high eccentricity of HD 217107 b's orbit could be due to the gravitational influence of a second planet in the system at a distance of several

astronomical unit The astronomical unit (symbol: au, or or AU) is a unit of length, roughly the distance from Earth to the Sun and approximately equal to or 8.3 light-minutes. The actual distance from Earth to the Sun varies by about 3% as Earth orbits t ...

s (AU). Confirmation of the existence of the second planet followed in 2005, and it was designated HD 217107 c. The parameters of this planet was initially very weakly constrained, with a period in excess of 8 years with a high eccentricity and a minimum mass of approximately two times the mass of Jupiter. Continued observations restrained the plausible solutions substantially, resulting in the current parameters published in 2008.

References

External links

* * {{Good article Exoplanets discovered in 2005 Giant planets Pisces (constellation) Exoplanets detected by radial velocity

Detection and discovery

See also

References

External links